Oh boy! Lightning... twice. The first was at Gold Eye Lake in the Canadian Rockeries just before we got married. Machka was sick as a dog with food poisoning, too. We had seen lightning on ridges way in the distance, and it was a calm, dry night. We dozed off to sleep... then came the shooting, searing cutting sound and a huge blast. I woke up and sat up in one motion with my eyes closed, but with vision of the bolt through my eyelids. We poked each other to see if we were still alive. We checked next morning, but couldn't find any evidence in the trees around us.

The second was just two months ago in Luxembourg. This was during a full-on thunder storm with rain, but it still scared us when it happened almost to the same extent as the Canadian incident. It was enough to blow out the campground's internet system.

Wild pigs are a problem in Australia, and their rooting up the ground is very destructive. But worse still, the boars can be very aggressive. I arrived in Alexandra, Victoria, and found a free campsite on high bank above a river about 5km out of the town. I settled in for the night, then heard a snorting sound that to me only could mean pig. And it wasn't where pigs were farmed. I lay really still for the longest time as the animal made its way to wherever it was going; I was afraid it might spook and attack me in the tent.

Later I inquired about wild pigs in the area, and was told there weren't any. But I was told koala bears make a really weird noise like a pig, especially when the males are looking to mate. Most of you know what koala look like, and they aren't big at all... and quite timid.

Koalas 1; Rowan 0.